Method and apparatus for enhancing electronic reading by identifying relationships between sections of electronic text

ABSTRACT

An apparatus, method and article of manufacture of the present invention detects the presence of references to the same concept in separate sections of text, and, with no input required from the reader, presents the reader with information concerning the detected references to the concept. The information provided may comprise information related to the location of the reference to the concept in other sections of text, and the reader also is provided the ability to move from one reference to a concept directly to another reference to the same concept.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 12/422,981filed Apr. 13, 2009 is now U.S. Pat. No. 7,958,138, which was acontinuation of application Ser. No. 11/554,570, filed Oct. 30, 2006,now U.S. Pat. No. 7,526,477, which was a continuation of applicationSer. No. 09/524,590, filed Mar. 14, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,143,348,which was a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 09/015,660,filed Jan. 29, 1998 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,154,757, which was based on andclaimed priority to Provisional Application No. 60/036,305 filed Jan.29, 1997.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to the fields of information processingand display by computers, and human-machine interfaces for computers,and more particularly to a computer-implemented method for detectingrelationships within one or more electronic texts and presenting thoserelationships to a user. The present invention further relates toproviding the user with an interface which identifies relationshipsbetween texts and presents them in a manner accessible to the user on acomputer display. The present invention further provides this interfacein a manner which passively identifies such relationships, such that theuser is not required to continuously refine search terms.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELEVANT ART

The current art includes computer programs that allow a user reading anelectronic text to perform electronic searches within the text beingread or within other texts. In current art reading programs, when thereader comes across material that she wishes to study further, she mustmanually enter the appropriate search terms in order to attempt toidentify related material in the same or other texts. Suchuser-initiated searches proceed from the assumption that the reader orresearcher will have the presence of mind and/or patience to pursuesearches within the accessible texts for all topics or subtopics thatmay assist her research. Further, such searches presuppose that the userhas a certain amount of understanding of her topic to begin with.Examples of such search mechanisms are those employed by legal documentsdatabases, such as Lexis and Westlaw, as well as those used by Internetsearch engines, such as Altavista or Yahoo.

The current art provides the reader or user with several advancedcapabilities with respect to identifying concepts and search terms,including the following: 1) The current art includes internet tailoring,in which advertisements relevant to an individual's current activitiesmight be presented. This is accomplished by performing additionalsearches in an index of advertisements based on a search term or auniform resource locator selected or entered by the user. An example ofthis occurs when a search engine site provides direct links to othersites that are relevant to the specific search terms. 2) The current artincludes methods for determining style and usage patterns, for example,as have been used in the construction of a plagiarism detector. Such aprogram is capable of identifying literary styles and patterns that maybe specific to a single author. 3) The current art provides methods toconduct “intelligent” searches by use of dictionaries of synonyms. Insuch searches, a synonym of a search term may be substituted for thesearch term in performing the search, permitting a user to enter onlyone of multiple potentially related search terms to find what he islooking for. 4) The current art includes various methods for identifyingconcepts in documents, and of generating a list of concepts (a conceptindex). Identification of concepts is generally based on detection ofword usages that commonly describe specific concepts. 5) The current artincludes computer programs used in the analysis of large quantities ofmilitary intelligence data. Such programs attempt to identifyrelationships between distinct events or facts for presentation to ananalyst, to aid in the analysis of intelligence data.

While such systems are generally adequate to serve a user who requires aspecific answer to a specific question, they do not well serve auser—such as a reader of an electronic text—who has a broad interest ina subject. Furthermore, while a user could potentially think of usefulsearches while he is reading an electronic text, the disruptionattendant formulating a search—and the time lost in doing so—will oftenresult in no search being done.

Thus, the current art imposes the following disadvantages on a readerwishing to extract information from a database:

First, no method exists in the current art to automatically identify forthe reader related passages in different locations of the same text orin different texts, as one text is being read.

Second, no method exists in the current art to provide for rapid accessto related materials in the same or different texts.

Third, the current art requires the reader to initiate the search,thereby disrupting the reading experience, and in some cases causing thereader to become disoriented as she formulates the search, reviewssearch results for relevance, and then finds her way back to the textshe was originally reading.

Fourth, the results of current art searches are only as good as thesearch query. While a reader who is an expert in a particular field mayhave the ability to formulate a query that will turn up just thedocuments she is interested in, someone lacking proficiency in the fieldor in the art of electronic searching may easily miss relevantdocuments. Moreover, even proficient searchers waste time conductingsearches for information that is not in the material being searched, andinevitably fail on occasion to conduct searches that would disclose theexistence of related material of interest.

What is needed is a computer program that conducts useful electronicsearches without requiring continuous input from the user. The computerprogram of the present invention overcomes the above-describeddisadvantages of the current art by conducting “implied searches”, inwhich the argument of the search is automatically extracted from a textthat is of interest to the user. The present invention can conductimplied searches to detect relationships between a plurality of textseven before the reader begins to read a text, or can be used to displayrelationships between and among texts as a reader is reading.

The present invention facilitates a reader's frequent desire to consideradditional treatment of issues under discussion. Such additionaltreatment may be presented elsewhere in the same text, or in a differenttext. However, the user has no basis for knowing which issues may bediscussed elsewhere in the same or different texts. Thus, a method toidentify relationships between texts, and provide the reader with directaccess to related materials, would substantially enhance the enjoymentand comprehension of the texts.

In an exemplary embodiment of the method, material being displayed onthe screen constitutes an argument for a search within the same or adifferent text. Depending on the user's preference, various features ofthis argument will trigger the display of results of searches elsewherewithin the same document or within other documents. The user is thenprovided with 1) information that related material exists elsewherewithin the same text or within a different text, and 2) access to therelated materials, via the computer system, in a fashion that does notlose the user's place in the text originally being read. In thisexemplary embodiment, the related material may also be accessed over anetwork, including the internet.

In a preferred embodiment, the specific features of the text beingdisplayed that may trigger such searches can include: 1) the presence ofrare words or their synonyms within the text, such that when words thatoccur a limited number of times within the text are encountered, asearch is triggered, 2) the presence of a multiplicity of rare words ortheir synonyms in specified close proximity to one another, such thatwhen these words are encountered together, a search is triggered, 3) thepresence of words in a predefined list, such as an author-defined indexto a text, its table of contents, or footnotes to the text, and 4) thepresence of related concepts, as defined by other methods foridentifying concepts in text. In a preferred embodiment, the specifiedsearches take place as or before the text is being read, and theexistence of related material is reported such that the reader becomesaware of its existence as she reads material from the original text.

This invention is enabled by the current art of computer programming,which permits a computer programmer of ordinary skill to perform theprogramming steps necessary to implement this invention with referenceto this description and the accompanying drawings.

Definition of Terms

A text is a compendium of words, which may take many forms, includingthose of internet pages, books, articles, e-mails, etc. A text may alsoinclude figures or tables that are related to the written material inthe text. A text may be presented by many different types of computersystems, including (but not limited to) browsers, word processors,e-books, computer controlled televisions, and readers. Thus, a text maybe in many different formats, including (but not limited to) ASCII, XML,HTML, proprietary word processor formats, open e-book format, pdfformat, and graphics display formats.

A section of text is any subset of a text (including the whole text).

An implied search is a search for which the argument of the search ismaterial related in a defined way to that presented on a computerdisplay. Although the user did not specifically request a search on anyof this material, the fact that it is displayed causes a computer toprovide information on the results of this search to the user of thecomputer system.

An index is a data structure containing terms and pointers. For eachterm, pointers define zero or more locations in a text at which the termis used or a concept related to the term is discussed. Indexes includeauthor's indexes, tables of contents, concept indexes, etc.

A concordance is an index for which the terms are words derived from atleast one text.

An outline of a text includes some subset of the text, preferablyrelated to the organizational structure of the text. For example, anoutline may contain only headings from the text, and could be displayedin a way that makes the relationships between different headings clear.An outline may also contain additional information related to the text.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides an implied electronic searching mechanismthat provides enhanced functionality and flexibility over conventionalmethods of electronic searching.

One object of the present invention is to alert a reader to theexistence of related concepts elsewhere in the same or a different textwithout interfering with her reading of the original text.

Another object of the present invention is to improve a reader'scomprehension of a text, by minimizing external distractions as the textis being read, and simultaneously providing access to information likelyto be related to material being read at any given time.

Another object of the present invention is to detect relationshipsbetween and among a plurality of texts that would not otherwise beapparent, or which could only be detected by reading each book, or byfortuitously conducting a user-defined search that happened to detectthe relationship.

Another object of the present invention is to supplement textualinformation being read with related information from computer-accessibletexts.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a searchingmechanism that has utility for the user but which requires no real-timeuser input to initiate.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a user with a wayof determining whether two or more concepts are truly related.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a user with a wayof accessing related information in a text from an outline of the sameor a different text.

Another object of the present invention is to take advantage of specificinformation regarding concepts displayed in a text in order to identifyother related concepts in the same or a different text.

Another object of the present invention is to permit a reader todesignate specific types of concepts about which she desires to receiveadditional information. These concepts may be based on locations withinthe text or on the proximity of rare words or their synonyms within thetext either to each other or to words on a predefined list of concepts,or based on other concept finding methods in the current or future art.

Another object of the present invention is to permit a reader to signalthe computer to provide more information on identified related conceptselsewhere in the same or in a different text.

The present invention, as broadly described herein, provides a userinterface and method for using a computer system to identify and presentrelated concepts in at least one text presented on a computer displaycontrolled by the computer, comprising the steps of 1) accessing, usingthe computer system, at least one text, each text comprising at leastone section of text, 2) identifying at least one reference to at leastone concept contained in a section of text, 3) identifying at least oneadditional reference to a concept related to the concept identified instep 2 in at least one additional section of text, and 4) providinginformation about a reference identified in step 3. Some of these stepsmay occur concurrently or in a different order.

Also, according to the present invention, a computer system comprisingmeans for effectuating the method of the present invention is provided.Further according to the present invention, computer-readable memoryencoded with a program directing the computer system to effectuate themethod of the present invention is also provided.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention are set forth in partin the description that follows, and in part are obvious from thedescription, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectsand advantages of the invention may also be realized and attained bymeans of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed outin the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate particular embodiments of theinvention, and together with the description, serve to explain theprinciples of the invention.

FIG. 1 presents a block diagram of a computer system as may be utilizedby the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram to aid in understanding the four majorsteps of the invention. While the invention can be practiced in a mannerdifferent from that depicted in the schematic diagram, the schematicdiagram provides a useful overview for understanding the invention.

FIG. 3 presents a sample text display block, such as that which could bepresented by text presentation or word processing programs. A linkdisplay box that provides the results of an implied search is alsopresented. This figure relates to identifying relationships within asingle text.

FIG. 4 presents a sample text display block, such as that which could bepresented by text presentation or word processing programs. A linkdisplay box that provides the results of an implied search is alsopresented. The presented material is based on specific user input on thelink display box presented in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 presents a sample text display block, such as that which could bepresented by text presentation or word processing programs. A linkdisplay box that provides the results of an implied search is alsopresented. This figure relates to identifying relationships within aplurality of texts.

FIG. 6 presents a sample text display block, such as that which could bepresented by text presentation or word processing programs. A linkdisplay box that provides the results of an implied search is alsopresented. The presented material is based on specific user input on thelink display box presented in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 presents steps that may be taken by client and server computersystems to implement a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 presents examples of approaches to formulation of a searchrequest for additional information related to a concept.

FIG. 9 presents relatedness between a text section and additionalmaterial provided by a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 presents steps that may be taken by a server computer system toimplement a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferredembodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings. The steps required to practice this invention arereadily accomplished by a person of ordinary skill in the art ofcomputer programming, with reference to this description and theaccompanying drawings.

The invention is described in the context of a computer system (100), aspictured in FIG. 1, which consists of at least one Central ProcessingUnit (102), memory (104, which may be random-access or read onlymemory), a Control function (106), and optionally random accesslong-term storage such as a hard disk or other disk drives (108). Inaddition, such systems may contain additional means for input such asstorage devices (130), a keyboard (112), one or more cursor controldevices (128), auxiliary input (126), scanners (124), audio input suchas a microphone (118), for output such as storage devices (130),amplified loudspeakers for audio output (120), one or more displaydevices such as a monitors (110), one or more printers (114), auxiliaryoutput (132), and access to other computer systems via modem (116) ornetworks (122). Thus, a computer system includes devices currently knownas personal computers, mainframe computers, supercomputers, laptopcomputers, personal digital assistants, network computers, servers,routers, hubs, control boxes, etc. A computer system (180) is alsodefined as a network (122, 150) of computer systems (for example, 160and 170), including local area networks, dial-up networks, wide areanetworks, and the internet. The preferred embodiment is described in thecontext of a computer system which is capable of running programs in aWindows™ environment.

A simplified preferred embodiment of the invention is presentedschematically in FIG. 2. According to the method, a computer system(206) is used to enhance a reader's reading of an electronic text by 1)accessing, using the computer system (206), at least one text (e.g.,202, 204), each text comprising at least one section of text (e.g., 212,214, 216, 218); 2) identifying at least one reference to a concept(e.g., 222, 226) contained in a section of text (e.g., 212, 216); 3)identifying at least one additional reference to a concept related tothe concept identified in step 2 in at least one additional section oftext (e.g., for 212/222 this could be 214/224, and for 216/226 thiscould be 218/228); and 4) providing information about (which may includeaccess to) a reference identified in step 3 (e.g., 232, 234).

Initially, for simplicity of description, a simple embodiment of thisinvention will be described in detail. Thereafter, enhancements thatincrease the utility of the invention will also be discussed.

In a preferred embodiment, the invention enhances the reader's enjoymentand understanding of a text by presenting information regarding relatedmaterial that appears elsewhere in the text. There are many possibleways of presenting this information to the reader; among the simplest isto provide a link (that may be clicked on with a mouse) to the relatedmaterial. In this embodiment, the existence of the link indicates thatrelated material exists elsewhere. If the reader clicks on the link, anew window containing the related material appears. A simple method forfinding related material is based on the author's index of the bookbeing read. In this simple preferred embodiment, when a page that isreferred to in the author's index is being viewed, the screen alsodisplays a representation of all index entries referring to that page.As depicted in FIG. 3, the reader is reading page 47 of a text, viewedin a text display box 302, and link display box 303, which is displayedin a separate window, displays all index entries that include page 47.The reader sees that the author has cited page 47 as containinginformation on the subject of procedural due process, and also sees thatpages 51-53, 67, and 123 also contain such information. Moreover, page47 is part of a broader discussion of the fourteenth amendment, which istreated at pp. 44-70, and 120-26. In this embodiment, the reader is thusmade aware of the existence and location of related material which canbe accessed by clicking on the page number.

FIG. 4 demonstrates the view that the reader would obtain by clicking on“51-53” on FIG. 3 in a preferred embodiment. As depicted in FIG. 4, thereader is now viewing a new window 402 that starts on page 51, and allreferences to “procedural due process” are highlighted (in this example,by bolding) or underlined or otherwise made to stand out fromsurrounding text. In addition to the standard features depicted for thescreen in FIG. 3, the reader on FIG. 4 has the option of pressing “nexthit” 405 which will bring the reader to the next point in pages 51-53that the words “procedural due process” are used. The reader also mayselect an additional reference to “procedural due process” from the linkdisplay box 403 (for example, the discussion on p. 67), or references toother material, e.g., Goldberg v. Kelly which are referred to on thecurrent page (p. 51). In the link display box, the current reference(pp. 51-53) is in bold. Areas that have already been examined aredisplayed in italics (in this example, p. 47). Clicking the arrows “>”407 or “<” 409 permits the user to traverse one selection forward andbackward among the selected references (with concomitant changes in theviewed text display box and link display boxes to correspond to theselected reference), and selecting “<<” 411 returns the user to heroriginal place on the base page, in this example, page 47. Thus, in thisexample, clicking “<” or “<<” would return the reader to page 47. Atthat time, clicking on “>” would return the user to page 51.

It may be noted that the initial display of information regardingrelated material occurs independently as the reader reads the text,without further direct input from the reader. This represents a type of“implied search,” a term that describes a search that is based on thematerial being displayed, with no real-time input from the reader.

In an alternate preferred embodiment, links to related material aredisplayed in the same window as the text being read.

The example discussed above and depicted in FIGS. 3-4 concerns a fairlysimple type of relationship that may exist between different portions ofa single text, that of shared references within the author's index. Thesame principle can equally be applied to shared references withinauthors' indexes for a plurality of texts. Thus, a computer program ofthis invention with access to a plurality of indexed texts presents notmerely the index entry for the author's index for the text being read,but also presents representations of index entries from other texts thatrelate to the indexed subjects on the page being read. Terms in suchindexes may be related by 1) being identical, 2) being synonyms of oneanother, or 3) referring to related concepts. This more complexembodiment is depicted in FIGS. 5-6.

In FIG. 5, the reader of page 47 sees not only the index entry for thetext being read, but also sees representations of index entries of theother texts to which the computer has access. In this case, clicking the“Jones, p. 87” under “procedural due process” brings the reader to page87 of the text authored by Jones, as depicted in FIG. 6, which in manyways resembles FIG. 5. In the preferred embodiment depicted in FIG. 6,the link display box 603 is that applicable to base page 87 the Jonestext. Options for further research (including the use of “next hit”,“>”, “<”, and “<<”) are analogous to those displayed in FIG. 4 for asingle text, but also now apply to a plurality of texts. In otherpreferred embodiments, the reader has the ability to view the linkdisplay box that is applicable to page 47 of the original reference.

In implementing this preferred embodiment, the invention may (withoutreal-time user input) generate a table from the indexes of a pluralityof texts. The table may be sorted or organized in any number of ways,e.g., alphabetically by subject (so it appears as a traditional author'sindex, except with more entries and entries refer to one or more books),or by number of hits (e.g., topics which seem to be discussed the mostin one or more texts). In a preferred embodiment, the reader has theability to sort and view this table according to his preferences.

In an alternative preferred embodiment, a library of texts for the useof this invention is supplied. This library may exist on a singlecomputer system, on a single network, or on networks of networks such asthe internet.

The embodiments described in FIGS. 3-6 address the relatively simplecase where the text or texts being read has been indexed, and provide anovel user interface to present the indexing information to the readerin a manner in which its utility is optimized.

FIGS. 7, 8, and 9 show the major steps of a preferred embodiment of theinvention. This preferred embodiment is:

-   -   a method for using a computer system, in response to a reader's        request for display of electronic text, to automatically        identify and provide additional reading material related to        concepts referred to within said electronic text comprising, in        sequence, the steps of:        -   a) on a client system (700),            -   1. accepting a request for display of electronic text;                (710)            -   2. sending said request for display of electronic text                over a network (799); (720)            -   3. receiving said electronic text, said electronic text                containing at least one text section (800); (730) and            -   4. without further user input, sending a search request                over said network (799), from said client system, for                additional information related to a concept referred to                in said at least one text section (800); (740)(880)(900)                and        -   b) on a server system (750), responsive to step (a.4)            -   1. searching an index, wherein                -   i) said index contains a plurality of terms by which                    it may be searched;                -   ii) substantially all terms in said index are                    associated 409 with at least one pointer to a text                    section; and                -   iii) at least one term in said index is associated                    with a plurality of pointers, at least two of said                    plurality of pointers pointing to different text                    sections; (760)(905)            -   2. as a result of step (b.1), identifying additional                reading material related to said concept; (770)(970) and            -   3. providing, via the network (799), to said client                system (700), for display on the same page as a portion                of the electronic text section referred to in step                (a.3), an indicator of said additional reading material                identified in step (b.2). (780)

Alternative preferred embodiments of this invention (see FIG. 9) are notdependent on the presence of author's indexes (910) to detectrelationships that may exist between portions of texts (960). In apreferred embodiment, the invention has the capability of generating itsown indexes based on prespecified criteria well known in the currentart. These criteria can be used to generate indexes of names, concepts,rarely used words, synonyms, etc. In a preferred embodiment, theinvention is also capable of using other types of indexes, such asconcordances, and those utilized by internet search engines to representthe information found at various internet web sites. In anotherpreferred embodiment, the invention simultaneously uses severaldifferent indexing methods to identify relevant material. The generationof these indexes may be performed by the invention, or may be implicitin cases where the index is already supplied with the text.

In an alternative preferred embodiment (FIG. 8), relationships betweenreferences to concepts in sections of text (800) may be detected bymethods including: 1) the shared presence of certain words, that may beprespecified by the user (850) (for example, the presence in twodifferent sections of text of words present on a word list provided bythe user), 2) the shared presence of combinations of words in an orderand within a proximity that may be prespecified by the user (810)(forexample, the use of “house” and “representative” within two words of oneanother could define a related concept (“House of Representatives”),while either of these words individually might not), 3) the sharedpresence of words or combinations of words that are recognized by theinvention to relate to a concept (for example, “House ofRepresentatives” and “Senate” could both be recognized to relate to“Congress”), 4) the shared presence of words that appear in the textswith some specified frequency relative to other words (820), eithersingly or in combination with other words (for example, two differentsections of text that use the term “lawyer” at least 4 times could beconsidered to relate to similar concepts; this method also can be usedto identify similar patterns of specified or rare grammatical usage,which might aid in detecting common authorship of different texts andmaking the reader aware of this relationship), 5) the shared presence ofsynonyms of words in any of the foregoing circumstances (850) (forexample, “barrister” and “attorney” could also be considered equivalentsof “lawyer”), 6) the shared citation of related sources (830) (forexample, two sections of text that cite the same source—or differentsources that are related based on title, topic, or author—could beconsidered to be related), 7) analysis of concordances of one or moresections of text (for example, repeating patterns of word usage mightbecome more readily apparent through analysis of concordances), 8)statistical analysis of word usage in any of the foregoing circumstances(for example, unusual patterns of word usage might be identified in partby statistical analysis of the likelihood of the juxtaposition of thewords by chance), 9) analysis of commands (840) (for example, in HTML orXML) that are embedded in one or more sections of text, and 10) othermeans of identifying concepts, many of which are in the current art(860). In this sense, the term “words” may include related words ofdifferent parts of speech, for example, “analytical” might be deemedsufficiently similar to “analyze,” or indeed to “investigation” (whichis a synonym for “analysis”). It is known in the current art that thereare methods of quantifying the strength of relationships between two ormore references to concepts. Some of these techniques are currently usedto rate outcomes of searches by internet search engines. In analternative preferred embodiment, previously-generated indexes are notnecessarily required to identify relationships within one or more texts.Although it is convenient for the computer system to store informationrelated to the discussion of concepts in an index (whether it isgenerated prior to use of the invention or in real-time), it is alsopossible to practice this invention without an index.

In a preferred embodiment, concepts are considered to be related to eachother (FIG. 9) (930) if they are identical (920), one is included withinthe other (950) (for example, “lawyers”, “judges”, and “courts” are alsoincluded in the general concept of “the legal system”), or share arelationship to another concept (940) (in this example, “lawyers” and“judges” are related to one another because of their common relationshipto “the legal system”).

The steps of another preferred embodiment of the invention are shown inFIG. 10, as claimed in claim 1. The steps of the invention include, insequence:

-   -   a) on a server system, via a network, accepting a request for        electronic text from a client system; (1010)    -   b) using at least one text section of said electronic text to        formulate a search request for additional reading material        related to at least one concept in said electronic text section,        wherein said search request includes at least one term that was        not provided to said server system by said client system; (1020)        and    -   c) via a network, along with said electronic text, providing        instructions to said client system that when executed, cause        said search request to be transmitted via a computer network,        resulting in identification of related material, and provision        to said client system of an indicator of said related material        to be presented on the same page as the requested electronic        text. (1030)

In a preferred embodiment, methods to determine the types ofrelationships to be detected in one or more texts include 1) use ofdialog boxes, 2) selection from lists of types of relationships to beidentified, and/or 3) default settings based on the invention's analysisof the text to be read or settings preset by a practitioner of thisinvention. In a preferred embodiment, these methods are used to collectinformation regarding which of the previously-described methods ofdetecting relationships between sections of text the user desires theinvention to use. The user may also provide input regarding which textor texts to analyze, either by default (as might occur when theinvention is packaged with a specific text or texts), or directly.

In the preferred embodiment initially described above, relationshipswere presented by the display of index entries and accessed by use ofmouse-clicks to define the user's desire regarding how much informationto present about a given relationship. In an alternative preferredembodiment, methods to present the relationships identified aboveinclude: 1) presentation of a list of relationships identified betweenportions or all of one or more text, 2) presentation of informationrelated to the relationship, 3) presentation of a link to the relatedsection of text, 4) presentation of the related section of text, 5)presentation of information related to one or more identifiedrelationships in the context of the organizational structure of one ormore texts (for example, on an outline of a text), or 6) somecombination of the foregoing. For example, a sortable index thatprovides information regarding the frequency and location of discussionsof the concepts may be provided.

In a preferred embodiment, an outline of a text can be used to provideinformation about the text in the context of the text's organizationalstructure. While reading a text, a reader can view an outline thatdescribes all the chapter titles, headings, and subheadings of the sameor a different text in a separate window. As the reader reads the text,information about related concepts is displayed on this outline, inpositions relative to these titles and headings that match the originalpositions in the text. In another preferred embodiment, all referencesto concepts shared by one or more texts are displayed on outlines ofthose texts, independently of the specific section of text being read bythe reader. In some cases, it is not necessary for a specific section oftext to be displayed, permitting comparison of relationships between oneor more texts to proceed only through use of corresponding outlines.

Because there are multiple potential ways of describing the organizationof a text in outline format, the reader has the option of simultaneouslyviewing more than one outline for a specific section of text. Inaddition to information about relationships between sections of text andthe organizational structure of a text, outlines may also contain otherinformation. This includes results of operations on the text, such assearches for specific words, information about (or access to) figures,tables, footnotes, annotations, and the like. The reader has the optionof determining which outlines will be used to provide information aboutrelationships identified by this invention. It may be desirable for morethan one outline related to a specific text to be displayed. This mayoccur when additional information is displayed on one or more of theoutlines (for example, the results of other searches), when differentoutlines correspond to different sections of text, or when differentoutlines correspond to different ways of describing the organization ofthe text. In one embodiment of this feature, a reader simultaneouslyviews a text window and two outline windows. The first outline windowprovides results of implied searches on the text being read relative tothe table of contents of the text (including subheadings), and thesecond outline window provides results of these implied searches on acomputer-generated outline of the text.

In a more complex embodiment, this invention is used to conduct impliedsearches over the internet, using as input the material displayed in agiven text. Links to relevant texts, which may include web sites, arepresented in the link display box.

In an even more complex embodiment, the relevance of specific links isdetermined by the number of searching or indexing methods that yield aspecific result, thus permitting the relative ranking of results in alink display box similar to 303 or 403 in FIGS. 3 and 4, respectively,based on the number and types of methods that yield each specificresult.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the inventiondescribed herein is not limited to the specific preferred embodimentsdiscussed above. For example, although the above discussion describes aprogram that uses a mouse and runs on a Windows™ platform, those skilledin the art will recognize that the invention could also be practicedwith input devices such as trackballs, joysticks, light pens, and thelike, and could also be usefully implemented on platforms such asMacintosh, X-Windows, Windows CE, NextStep, OS/2, Motif, Unix, Linux,Java, Palm OS, various internet browsers, and the like. In addition, itwill also be apparent to those skilled in the art that embodiments ofthis user interface which provide results equivalent to those obtainedregardless of whether an index is provided or generated also fall withinthe scope of this invention and claims. This invention also may bepracticed on stand-alone machines constructed for this purpose, or onvariants of computer systems, such as personal digital assistants,electronic books, palmtop PCs, computer-controlled televisions(including Web-TV) and the like. Moreover, those skilled in the art willrecognize that this invention or parts of this invention could bepracticed using computer hardware, bypassing the use of software for thepurpose of providing the functionality of this invention. Furthermore,those skilled in the art will recognize that this invention may bepracticed as a part of any computer program which displays text, asdefined broadly herein, including but not limited to word processors,text readers (including those which audibly read text) and other textdisplay programs. It will also be apparent to those skilled in the artthat various modifications can be made to this invention of acomputer-implemented method and a computer system that provide a userinterface that provides an implied search for related materials, withoutdeparting from the scope or spirit of the invention and claims. It isalso intended that the present invention cover modifications andvariations of the described user interface within the scope of theappended claims and their equivalents.

1. A method for using a computer system to provide additional material related to a concept within electronic text, comprising the steps of: a) identifying electronic text for display; b) packaging with said text computer-executable code, wherein: i. said code is formatted and designed to be executed in real-time without user action when said accompanying text is displayed; ii. when executed, said code submits a search request for additional information related to a concept represented within at least one text section of said identified text, said search request leading to a search of an index, said search of an index identifying additional material related to said concept; and iii. when executed, said code provides for display in the same presentation as said identified electronic text an indicator of said identified additional material, wherein said indicator comprises display material not derived from said electronic text; and c) in response to a request for said electronic text, providing said electronic text together with said computer-executable code; wherein said index contains a plurality of terms by which it may be searched; at least one term in said index is associated with at least one reference to a text section; and at least one term in said index is associated with a plurality of references, at least two of said plurality of references indicating different text sections.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said electronic text comprises non-text elements.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein said electronic text is encoded in a non-text format.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the content of said electronic text is used to identify at least one concept.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein a concept represented in a section of electronic text is identified using related text not included in said text section.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one search term corresponding to said concept is identified.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein said code, when executed, includes as a search parameter information from a computer system on which said text is displayed.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein said code, when executed, includes location information as a search parameter.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein said code, when executed, includes information from network browser cookies as a search parameter.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein said code, when executed, includes language information as a search parameter.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein a reference comprises computer-readable information sufficient to identify an associated text section.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one said reference is a pointer.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one term in said index is chosen based on its relevance to an indicator of related material.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein said index comprises terms related to targeting of indicators of related material.
 15. The method of claim 1, wherein the generation of said index comprises identifying targeting information for at least one indicator of related material.
 16. The method of claim 1, wherein said indicator of related material comprises an advertisement.
 17. The method of claim 1, wherein said related material is related to said text section by relevance to related concepts.
 18. The method of claim 1, wherein said presentation comprises a browser window.
 19. The method of claim 1, wherein said indicator of related material comprises a mechanism to provide access to a source of said related material.
 20. The method of claim 1, wherein said indicator of related material comprises non-text material.
 21. The method of claim 1, wherein said indicator of related material comprises an excerpt of said related material.
 22. The method of claim 1, wherein said index search indirectly leads to identification of said additional material.
 23. The method of claim 1, wherein a text section comprises at least one of a) text, b) graphics, c) audio, d) video and e) other computer-readable data.
 24. The method of claim 1, wherein said related material comprises a text section of electronic text distinct from said requested electronic text.
 25. The method of claim 1, wherein said code, when executed, includes user identifying information as a search parameter.
 26. A computer system that provides information about additional material related to a concept within electronic text, comprising at least one computer and one computer-implemented program that: a) identifies electronic text for display; b) packages with said text computer-executable code, wherein: i. said code is formatted and designed to be executed in real-time without user action when said accompanying text is displayed; ii. when executed, said code submits a search request for additional information related to a concept represented within at least one text section of said identified text, said search request leading to a search of an index, said search of an index identifying additional material related to said concept; and iii. when executed, said code provides for display in the same presentation as said identified electronic text an indicator of said identified additional material, wherein said indicator comprises display material not derived from said electronic text; and c) in response to a request for said electronic text, provides said electronic text together with said computer-executable code; wherein said index contains a plurality of terms by which it may be searched; at least one term in said index is associated with at least one reference to a text section; and at least one term in said index is associated with a plurality of references, at least two of said plurality of references indicating different text sections.
 27. A computer readable medium containing computer instructions to provide additional material related to a concept within electronic text, that when executed by a computer system: a) identify electronic text for display; b) package with said text computer-executable code, wherein: i. said code is formatted and designed to be executed in real-time without user action when said accompanying text is displayed; ii. when executed, said code submits a search request for additional information related to a concept represented within at least one text section of said identified text, said search request leading to a search of an index, said search of an index identifying additional material related to said concept; and iii. when executed, said code provides for display in the same presentation as said identified electronic text an indicator of said identified additional material, wherein said indicator comprises display material not derived from said electronic text; and c) in response to a request for said electronic text, provide said electronic text together with said computer-executable code; wherein said index contains a plurality of terms by which it may be searched; at least one term in said index is associated with at least one reference to a text section; and at least one term in said index is associated with a plurality of references, at least two of said plurality of references indicating different text sections. 